Car-coupling



(No M0de1.)

A. DILLER & J. W. WHITE.

OAR COUPLING. No. 374,783. Patented Dec. 13, 1887.

.dttorneys N PETERS. Phfllo-Liihogmpher. Wnshi nnnnnn C.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAHAM DILLER AND JOSEPH W. WHITE, OF BRIGHTON, IOWA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,783, dated December13, 1887.

Application filed September 9, 1887. Serial No. 249,222. (No model.)

' will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view showing two railroad-cars provided with our new andimproved coupling, and coupled together. Fig. 2 is a perspective view,on an enlarged scale, of the end of one of the cars provided with ourcoupling. Fig. 3 is avertical transverse sec tional view taken on theplane indicated by line 00 m of Fig. 4, and Fig. 4 is alongitudinalvertical sectional View taken on the plane indicated by line y'yof Fig.3.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

Our invention consists in a new and improved car-c'oupling, which willbe hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Referring to the several parts by letter, A indicates the end of onecar, which is provided with our new and improved coupling, and Bindicates another car, also provided with our coupling.

The object of our invention is to enable the cars to be coupled togetherreadily, easily, and surely without the necessity of going between them,and thereby prevent the loss of life which so frequently occurs from thetrain-men going between the meeting ends of the cars to couple themtogether. 1

To this end our invention consists in the new and improved construction,arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be hereinafter clearlydescribed and claimed.

0 indicates the draw-bar or bumper of each car or coupling, which issupported by the cross-supports D D, on which it slides, and has theusual spiral spring, E, arranged back of its inner rear end to form anelastic bumper when the cars come together, the stop F preventing thebumper or draw-bar from being drawn out too far. This draw-bar of ourcoupling can be formed much smaller, narrower, and lighter than theusual draw bar or head of car-couplings, as there is nointricatemechanism mounted in it. Near its forward endthedraw-barisformedwiththeverticalopening G, which is cast slightlylonger than its width in cross-section, so as to be oblong orrectangular in transverse section, and in and through this verticalopening fits the stem or shank H of the draft-hook I, the said stembeing likewise fo'rmed longer than its width in crosssection, so that itwill fit in the vertical opening G, and will thus, owing to its shapeand that of the said opening, be prevented from turning in the saidopening, thus always holding the point of the hook at precisely the'samepoint. The point of the hook extends back, and is beveled on the underside of its ex: tremity, as shown. draw-bar is formed with thetransverse opening J extending horizontally through it, and through thisopening passes the bolt K, on'the projecting ends of whichthe ends ofthe clevis or coupling-link L are pivotally mounted, so that the saidlinkcan be swung freely up and down. The book I is retained, removablyin position in the vertical opening G of the draw-bar by the flat heavykey M, which passes throughthe transverse key-hole N in the lower end ofthe stem or shank of the hook, as shown, so that by removing the saidkey the hook can be removed, to be replaced by a new one, if broken, andalso for the purpose hereinafter described.

On the top of the draw-bar,to the rear of the pivot-bolt K of the clevisor link, is cast a slotted eye, 0, or rather two eyes or cars, be tweenwhich the trigger-bar Q is pivotally secured by means of the pivotpassing through the openings 1? Pin the said ears.

Q indicates this trigger-bar, which is centrally pivoted bya pivot, Q,between the ears 0 O, as shown, sothat its forward end,which is beveledon its upper side,will come in contact with the lower beveled side ofthe rearwardly-extending point of the draft-hook, and

thus close the hook when the link of the other car has entered the same.The rear end of the trigger-bar passes back through into a recess, R, inthe end of the car of the bumper plate or timber which is securedagainst the end of the car.

Through a bearing, S, in this end plate of the car passes the verticaloperating-rod T, which may be formed at its upper end with a suitablehandle for convenience in operating the coupling from the top of thecar, the said rod being flattened at its lower end portion and thereformed with the vertical slot U, through which the rear end of thetrigger-bar passes, a key, V; passing transversely through the rearextremity of the said bar to prevent the possibility of its working outof the slotted end of the lever, through which it slides as the draw-baris moved in and out. The upper end of the slot in the lower end of theoperating-rod is normally kept pressed down upon the rear end of thetriggerbar by means of a coiled spring, A, through which the rod Tpasses, the upper end of the said encircling coiled spring bearingagainst a stop or staple, B, which holds the rod T in position, whileits lower end bears down upon a transverse pin or stop, 0, which isdriven tightly through the said rod above the slot U, and it will thusbe seen that the tension of this spring will serve to keep the inner endof the trigger-bar always normally depressed and its forward beveled endraised'in contact with the beveled point of the hook.

In operation, suppose the car A to be attached to the engine,whilc theother car, B, is to be coupled to car A, the links L of both carshanging down loosely. The link of the car B is now turned up and back sothat it rests against the end plate or end of the car above thedraw-head and sufficiently back of the same to prevent its falling untilthe cars come together. As the ends of the bumpers of the two carsstrike together, the jar will throw the elevated link down, so that itsouter end portion, or rather middle portion, will strike and rest uponthe trigger-bar of the car A in front of the pivotal point of the same,when the weight of the link will depress and hold down the said forwardend of the centrally-pivoted trigger-bar, the spring A yielding to theweight of the link. Now as the cars move apart the end of the link ofcarB will of course be drawn into the draft-hook of car A, when, as soon asits weight passes from the forward end of the trigger-bar on enteringthe hook, the tension of the spring A will force down the rod T, andthrough it the inner end of the centrally-pivoted trigger-bar, thusraising the forward part of the said bar until its beveled end comes incontact with the beveled under side of the end or point of thedraft-hook of car A, thus locking the link in the hook and effectuallypreventing it from being shaken or working out apart from the hook. Whenthe ends of the draw-bars come together in coupling, the bars are ofcourse forced back, while when they separate their bumper-springs Eforce the said draw-bars out, and on both of these movements the rearend portions of the trigger-bars slide through the slotted lower .endsof the operating-rods T, and the said rods are thus prevented from beingbent or broken 'by the movements of the draw-bars, which carry thetrigger-bars with them.

The cars are uncoupled by drawing up the upper end of the operating-rodT of car B, thus elevating the inner end and lowering the forward orouter end of the trigger-bar of the said car when the cars A and B aremoved together so that the bumpers touch, when the end of the link ofcar B will be pushed or slid up the forward portion of the trigger-bar,which is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 in its depressed position,until the end of the link is back of the end of the draft'hook, when therod T is pushed down to depress the inner end of the centrally-pivotedtrigger-bar and raise the forward end of the same, when, as the cars aredrawn apart, the end of the link will be drawn up the trigger-bar andoff clear of the hook, the end of the trigger-bar being in contact withthe end of the hook as the link is drawn over it by the separating cars.

The cars can also be uncoupled from the side of the car by means of ahand-lever or side lever, E, which is centrally pivoted, as shown, andhinged or swiveled at its inner end to the vertical operating-rod T, sothat the trigger-bar can be operated as readily from the side as fromthe top of the car, as will be readily seen.

In order to enable cars provided with our improved coupling to be usedon roads which are still using the common link-and-pin coupling, thedraw-bar of each coupling is formed with the recess F extending in from.its outer end, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and when a carprovided with our coupling is used on a road where the cars use theseordinary couplings all that will be necessary will be to remove the keyfrom the lower ends of the draft-hooks, when the said hooks may beremoved and a common pinsubstituted, or the stems of the said hooks willserve as couplingpins for the common links, as will be readilyunderstood.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction, operation, and advantages ofour new and improved car-coupling will be readily understood. I

It will be seen that our new and improved coupling is simple, cheap,strong, and durable in construction and exceedingly safe and eflicientin its operation. It will be seen that a diflerence in the height of thecars will not interfere with the working of the coupling,

and the coupling will couple as short as the common coupling now inuse-that is to say, the distance between the cars when coupled. will bethe same in both.

Should a clevis or link or a hook break on either car, they can becoupled together with the remaining link or hook without any dolay, andthe broken parts can be easily replaced at any time.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desireto secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a car-coupling, the combination,with

I the draw-bar, of the U-shaped link pivoted at its ends, the draft-hookhaving the beveled end, the centrally-pivoted trigger-bar having thebeveled forward end, and the vertical opcrating-rod.

2. In a car-coupling, the combination, with the sliding spring-actuateddraw-bar, of the U-shaped link pivoted at its ends, the drafthook havingthe beveled point, the centrallypivoted trigger-bar having the beveledforward end and the key at its rear end, and the verticalspring-actuated operating-rod having the slotted lower end,substantially as set forth.

3. In a car-conpling, the combination, with the sliding spring-actnateddraw-bar formed with the end recess, the vertical end opening, and theperforated ears, of the- U-shaped link 2o pivoted at its ends, theremovable draft-hook having the beveled point, the centrally-pit otedtrigger-bar having the beveled forward end and the key at its rear end,the vertical spring actuated operating rod having the 2 5- slotted lowerend, and the centrally-pivoted side lever, all substantiallyas and forthe purpose herein shown and setforth. In testimony that we claim theforegoing as our own we have hereunto aflixed our signao tnres inpresence of two witnesses.

ABRAHAM DILLER. JOSEPH W. WHITE. Witnesses:

DANIEL E. NICHOLS, WILLIAM V. WHITE.

